Snap hook



Aug. 3o, 1932. H, SOULE 1,875,274 f SNAP HOOK Filed April 4, 1932 fil/W7Ju@ Patented Aug. 30, 1932 UNITED STATES HENRY soULE, or DWIGHT;Non'rnnAxorA' SNAP nook! Application ined April 4, 1932.' se`r1a1 No'.602,954.'`

My invention relates to an improved snap hook yfor rope ends or socalled traces and is particularly useful for tethering ropes though itsusefulness is not limited to only such uses. This device furthercomprises certain improvements over my patented snap hook United StatesPatent Number 1,7 44,419 issued January 21., 1930, said patented deviceinvolving a rope end holding device used in conjunction with a snap hookof certain structure, said holder being used integrally with thispresent n-ew and improved hook hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawing,- n

Fig. 1 is a top view of the improved snap hook connected with a ropeholder inthe preferred embodiment of my invention. y

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailview mainly of 59 a center coil of the snap hook about as on line 3-3 inFig. 1. Y

Referring to the drawing by refer-ence numerals 6 designates a rope asused for tethering cattle, etc., in stalls orL afield.

Z--7A are two elongated metal shell pieces of approximatelysemi-cylindrical form, said shells being counterparts except that one ofthem as 7 has a number of apertures around which the metal iscountersunk as'8 to allow a countersunk screw head to be retainedtherein, as the head 9H of screw 9 (See 1 particularly). The other shellsection as 7A, has a slightly flattened area 10 diametrically oppositeeach countersunk 8 m o5 which is a threaded aperture 11 to be engaged bythe threads of screw 9. t

12 is a pair of di ametrically opposite apertures near the front ends ofthe shell pieces f and engaged pivot-ally by a metal ring 13 which is inturn engaged pivotally by the inner end of my improved snap hook whichwill now be described.

The snap hook comprises a single intep gral piece of heavy wire 14formed from front to rear as follows: The front end of the snap hookcomprises the usual rearwardly open hook formed by bending the wire in aU-shape at the terminus of the hook, as 14A, v thence the wire extendsin the sweeping curve i" downward and thence rearwardly in two parallelbights designatedi14BFf-to coil for- I .mamon at ,the rear end' 0f thehwk designated as C, said coil means loosely engaging ,thejring13..vSaid coil means comprisea Vcom'- mon ring integral of the main hook. Onebiglit 14B of the hook, as the upper one in Fig. l, is coiled at therear in one and a quarter loop 14L in upright plane, and from the latteror inner part of said coil the wire is extended forward and upward toprovide a tongue or prong 14T adapted to be sprung into engagement withthe U-shaped forward terminus of the hook as shown in full lines inFigs. l and 2. Said tongue may be pressed inwardly when a bit, ring orother device represented by a circle 15 in Fig. 2 is to be engaged inthe hook. The other bight 14B, as the lower one in Fig. 1 is formed atits rear end as a plain circular ring 14L in upright plane and parallelto the coil of the upper bight above described. The ring 14L and coil14L are alined concentrically as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In themanufacture of my snap hook a heavy gage wire is desirable and it hasbeen found that such.,

wire, coiled as 14L, creates normally a too" strong resistance'of thetongue 14T. Therefore in the making of the hook I reduce the metal inthat part of the hook which is coiled at 14L by milling or otherwisereducing its size in cross section, as between points desig nated E andFin Fig. 3.

This reduces the strength of the wire and affects the tongue 14T in sucha manner that the latter is more readily pressed downy as to the dottedposition in Fig. 2 for engag-y ing a bit or other device in the hook.However, the outer coils are not reduced in any manner and take all thepulling strain of the hookor the rope as the case may be.

The improved and simplified snap hook has now been fully described. Itis obvious that it should be made of a heavy gage spring wire and saidgage determined according to the capacity of hook desired or the use to;l which such hook is to be put.

I claim:

1. A snap hook of the class described comprising a single integral pieceof wire bent in U-shape at its forward terminal, two bights-f` of saidwire extending in parallel relation in a curvature from said terminusforwardly and downwardly in a curvature and thence rearwardly to form anopen hook7 one bight of said wire formed in spaced relation to said hookwith a turn and a quarter upright loop, thence extending forward in theform of a tongue toward the U-shaped forward terminus and adapted tofrictionally and yieldably engage upwardly therein and the otherblghtformed at the rear with a plain loop registering horizontally with saidcoil of the first described hight.

2. The structure specified in claim l in which said loop from which thetongue eX- tends is reduced in cross sectional area vthroughout apredetermined part for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature.

n HENRY SOULE.

